Airbus has backed away from a stricter office-presence rule for white-collar staff after union protests and strikes, keeping its current hybrid model of about two days a week working from home. The change preserves existing arrangements across the planemaker’s European operations, including sites in Spain, where the pushback had been strongest.
The proposed move to cut remote work to one day a week from September had sparked on-off strikes in Spain since July, along with protests in France and the UK. Airbus had argued that a greater on-site presence would improve collaboration, knowledge transfer and decision-making, but managers have now been told they can continue to apply the current agreements. Production has not been affected so far, although the dispute has involved white-collar functions that support aircraft programmes and manufacturing.
An Airbus spokesperson described the transition as more gradual and linked the shift to employee feedback. The retreat comes amid a broader post-pandemic return-to-office drive across large industrial groups, but it shows that organised labour can still force changes to workplace policy at a major aerospace manufacturer.